Board Calls Project Delray Responsibility

October 7, 1986|By JOSEPH SCHWERDT, Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH -- Planning and Zoning Board members washed their hands of a controversial plan for a Florida Power & Light Company office building Monday by recommending denial of the project and handing it over to the City Council.

``The City Council created the monster,`` board member John Vislocky said. ``Let them face the people.``

Board members are miffed at the council and at developers Alfieri-Pugliese Inc. for working out a plan to allow FPL to buy a three-acre parcel just off Congress Avenue. FPL wants to build a 23,000-square-foot district office building on the property. The current district office, on Northwest Second Avenue, is too small for the company`s 104 employees in Delray Beach.

Pugliese sold the land to FPL after the development firm won approval early this year to rezone the property from residential to commercial. The land was originally part of a proposed 23-acre Alfieri-Pugliese Park of Commerce.

After the land was sold, the council approved the plat without the planning board`s approval, a move board members said violates city code.

``If they want to approve the site, let them do it,`` board Chairman Kathi Sumrall said. ``The ball`s in their court. If they want to fight with 1,200 residents out there, let them do it.``

``They`ll get a fight from 1,200 residents,`` said Delray Oaks Condominium Association President John Russell. ``I`ll guarantee you that.``

FPL officials said they scoured the city in search of the best peice of property. Company officials said FPL would be forcd to move out of Delray Beach if it could not build on the land. The company has already made several adjustments to the building`s plan to make it more attractive and reduce the noise to nearby residents.

But the power company could not sway board members or residents.

Delray Oaks and Sabal Pines object to the office site because it is bordered on three sides by residential neighborhoods. They also are concerned about the 300 additional cars that will drive on Southwest 29th Street and Germantown Road after it`s built.

The property was rezoned as part of a 23-acre office development that showed all entrances and exits on Congress Avenue. Board members said they agreed to rezone the property provided there would be no entrances on 29th Street.

Shortly after the property was rezoned, however, Pugliese lopped off the rear three-acre piece and sold it to FPL. Now the only way to get to that property is on the residential streets.

The board also didn`t like a planned drive-in window to pay bills. Drive-ins are not allowed on land zoned for planned office centers, officials said.

``This is a very sensitive area,`` board member Bob Currie said. ``We were worried about rezoning it in the first place becuase it is next to a residential neighborhood. But we said if they kept this (property) landscaped and for parking only, we would consider it.``

Board members said the rezoning should have been brought back to them after the property was sold. But City Attorney Herb Thiele ruled differently and the plat went straight to the City Council.